Lowe's files Pa. site plans

July 20, 1998|By DON AINES

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - A Wilkesboro, N.C., firm filed preliminary site development plans earlier this month for a Lowe's Home Improvement Center in Guilford Township, Pa., al-though a spokeswoman for the hardware giant said the company has made no announcement about a new store in the area.

The blueprints state it is a Lowe's Company Inc., building, according to the plans submitted by Spectrum Development LLC, of Wilkesboro. The plans list Spectrum as the developer of the project.

The building would include a sales floor, garden center, seasonal display area, and shipping and receiving areas, according to the plans. The building would measure roughly 450 feet by 300 feet, the blueprints show.

According to the plans filed with the Franklin County Planning Office on July 9, the store would be along the 1600 block of Lincoln Way East, just east of Chambersburg.

The plans involve a site on more than 32 acres with 676 parking regular parking spaces and 32 handicapped spaces.

"We have not made any announcement on a new store in Chambersburg," said Jule Schreffler, a public relations specialist for Lowe's, which is headquartered in North Wilkesboro, N.C. Lowe's already has a store at 1320 Lincoln Way East.

The company is, however, in the middle of a large expansion in a number of its stores.

"Our goal is to have 600 by the year 2000," Schreffler said Monday. She said there will be 460 stores in the chain when two more open Wednesday in the Midwest.

"It's really right at the beginning of the review process," said Guilford Township Zoning Officer Wayne Statler. The township planning committee and engineer still have to review the plans, he said.

He said the review process could take up to three months.

Statler said the developer also has to apply for a conditional use permit for a large warehouse or shopping complex at the site, and a public hearing would have to be held before it's approved or rejected.

In May, he said the township granted a variance to its sign ordinance to Venture Properties I LLC, of Wilkesboro, for the site. Statler said the entrance to the store would be directly across U.S. 30 from where Mower Road intersects the highway from the north.

Part of the site was occupied by Glasgow Recreational Vehicles Inc., which closed earlier this year.

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